Scrubbers are one of the alternatives available to shipowners to comply with the 0.1% sulphur regulation when it comes into force in the North Sea and Baltic emission controls areas from 1 January 2015. Some owners are making major investments in scrubbers such as DFDS which is investing $100m equipping 40% of its fleet with the equipment.
Most scrubbers use seawater, however, an increasing number of European states are prohibiting the discharge of waters from scrubbers into the sea under the EU’s Water Framework Directive.
“The EU member states need to establish uniform rules for discharging scrubbing water in their ports and coastal waters,” said Ralf Nagel, ceo of the VDR. “Shipping companies that invested a great deal of money in scrubbers at an early stage in compliance with European and international parameters must not be punished for that now.”
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